National campaign teaches healthcare providers, public how to save a life with bleeding control skills

Baltimore, MD – It can only take minutes for someone to bleed to death from an accidental wound or in the event of a large scale mass casualty event. That is why the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, University of Maryland is launching the national Stop the Bleed campaign here in Baltimore to encourage healthcare providers and the community to get trained in bleed control techniques to help save a life.

“It’s easy to learn,” says Thomas Scalea, MD, Francis X. Kelly Distinguished Professor of Trauma, University of Maryland School of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief, R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. “The training is the equivalent of bystander CPR or learning to use an AED. Anyone can learn the life-saving skills of bleeding control,” he continued. “It’s simple: if we do not stop the bleeding, the person dies.”

Massive bleeding from any cause, but particularly in a situation where a medical response is delayed, can result in death within just 5-10 minutes if bleeding is not stopped. Similar to how the general public learns and performs CPR, it is important for the public to learn proper bleeding control techniques, including how to use their hands, dressings, and tourniquets.

The good news is that anyone at the scene can act as an immediate responder and save lives if they know what to do. Stop the Bleed is an initiative of the American College of Surgeons and the Hartford Consensus and contains diagrams, news, videos, and other resources contributed by a variety of other private and nonprofit partners to help prepare individuals in the event they can help save a life. UM Shock Trauma is partnering with the Maryland Committee on Trauma for this initiative.

“If we have learned anything in recent years it is that tragedy can strike – it is not hypothetical,” Scalea said. “Through this training, our goal is to provide people with knowledge and skills to be able to stop the bleeding. It is important to be trained correctly so that it can be effective. And while we hope people never have to use it, we want everyone empowered to act.”

Stop the Bleed supports former President Barack Obama’s policy directive for national preparedness (Presidential Policy Directive 8), which targets preparedness as a shared responsibility of the government, the private and nonprofit sectors, and individual citizens.

The public and healthcare providers are invited to register today at www.mdcot.org for a free training course. The University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center bleeding control training is performed by bleeding-control-trained medical professionals from UMMC/STC, and includes hands-on instruction and visual presentations.

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About the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center

For more than 40 years, R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, University of Maryland, has been a worldwide leader in trauma care. Shock Trauma is the heart of Maryland’s exceptional Emergency Medical Services (EMS) — the first coordinated system in the country and a national model of excellence. UM Shock Trauma is the designated trauma hospital in Maryland to treat the most severely injured and critically ill patients. Approximately 96% of patients brought to Shock Trauma survive their injuries. To date, more than 150,000 people have been cared for at Shock Trauma.